‘Shaman’ – a dangerous friend!
I finished this painting this morning after successfully pushing myself to explore my expression of this work in a much more raw and untamed way. I was feeling like my work was becoming a little too tight, polite and domesticated for my liking and wanted to break through this to a more energetically primal form of expression.
This painting speaks to the wholeness of the path of the contemporary shaman, that it is a path with edge, and a sharp one at that! It is a juicy, living, bloody and muddy path that honours the dark as well as the light within us all. The one that recognises that we are whole luminous beings, that we do not need to ‘get rid’ of anything, only transmute and transform the misconceptions that we hold about ourselves that hold us back and keep us small.
This is the shaman as ‘catfish’, the dangerous friend who will do what needs to be done, tell you what you truly need to hear or won’t see, but tempered with compassion. The shaman is the one who mixes it all up when you have scared yourself into stagnation, who sees past the wounded stories you tell about yourself, the one who throws the proverbial tiger amongst the pigeons when you need it most!
The shaman is also ‘anam cara’, a soul friend, one who sees the potential and brilliance within us all, who holds a vision of us as we truly are behind all the fear, wounds, procrastination and playing small – that we are truly radiant souls! They have walked this path, they carry medicine borne from their experiences of transmuting their wounds into their power, and their journey beyond this.
Wishing you wholeness and bright blessings on your path.
Gabrielle x
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